In the first part of this paper, the STAT-HAND software development was presented in order to support the fabrics' hand evaluation by means of tactile sensory feeling. Included in the teaching and research activities as a functional laboratory system, the STAT-HAND for subjective evaluation of the primary handle attributes associated with fabrics' comfort is a useful interactive ICT-based learning tool for master students, for the sensorial fabrics' selection according to specific garment end-use.
In this paper, a case study of practical use of the STAT-HAND, provided the subjective evaluations of several plain woven fabrics (with different fiber composition and properties), suitable for the quality profile expected for comfortable summer dresses, designed for a ready-to-wear collection.
In order to identify the relevance of the subjective evaluation for setting up the handle profile of fabrics intended for summer dresses according to the visual evaluation response, the selected fabric samples were evaluated by a group of master students, trained according to the AATCC Evaluation Procedure 5-2011, for primary handle attributes by means of subjective evaluation and delivered as a panel consensus. The evaluators' perceptions by means of blind evaluation reflected the handle sensations and provided consistent information on the sensory comfort estimated during the contact with fabric, when handled.
The whole assessment activity was conducted on computer-assisted workstations, and the handle sensations of the students-evaluators were translated into experimental results, subjected to faster processing with STAT-HAND.
The outcome of this paper was that, the software STAT-HAND developed as an e-learning tool for describing and grading the sensory quality of selected fabrics during the laboratory activities, allowed the virtual simulation of the fabrics handle profile, optimized for a specific garments' end-use.